ISC Daily News Summary

ISC is today pleased to announce that our free online Member Zone (beta) is now live. The zone has been developed specifically for heads, bursars and governors, as well as our member associations, and contains vital information and advice. To register for access please click here. You will then need to complete a short registration form before being e-mailed your username and password.

So far the zone consists of a new Legal Advice Centre, developed in the current climate of rapid legislative change, to help you understand which legislations to act upon and which ones can be safely ignored. We will be uploading new content to the Member Zone on a regular basis with future planned additions including the facility for schools to securely add details about their upcoming open days. This will enable parents to view this information in the Parent Zone, as well as featuring on each school's full profile page.  

TES

The TES reports on a speech given by ISC Chief Executive Chris Parry at this week's Council of British Independent Schools (COBIS) Annual Conference. Chairman of HMC, Dr Bernard Trafford, is also quoted.

Call for unity in private schools (TES not online)

TES

Further coverage of a conference on extended projects held at Rugby School earlier this week at which a Harvard University professor, Niall Ferguson, urged schools to consider adopting the International Baccalaureate (IB).

New A-level projects could rescue exams (TES not online)

TES

Rutland School physics teacher, Hannah Williams, has solved a complex mystery game, which involves trying to open a metal ball, then solving the puzzles inside to find one of 19 gold coins hidden around the UK.

Teacher cracks the code (TES not online)

TES magazine

Teaching tips from Chester Style, who is head of English at Finborough School.

A leaf out of my book (TES magazine not online)

Daily Telegraph

'Sir - Why is it considered 'elitist' to spend money on private education and private medicine, but not 'elitist' to spend it on alcohol, cigarettes, recreational drugs, junk food and trips abroad?'

Elitist slur (Daily Telegraph letters)

Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Times, Daily Mail, BBC News Online, TES

The new exams watchdog is to conduct a 'health check' of all school tests and exams amid concerns that standards are not being met. The Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) will be formally launched today with a promise to investigate the 'reliability' of exams. The first Chairman of Ofqual - Kathleen Tattersall - has said that the public has a 'simplistic' expectation that the marking system should be 'perfect'. The TES leads with the news that the marking of England's Sats is in 'disarray' because of administrative blunders and technical problems.

Pupils should not expect right marks, says exam watchdog (Daily Telegraph)
Testing times as new exam watchdog orders system check (Guardian)
Headteachers angry at Sats 'nightmare' (Guardian)
Don't expect your exam results to be accurate, watchdog warns pupils (Times)
SATs waste far too much time (Times)
Don't expect marks to be accurate, says the exam watchdog (Daily Mail)
Schools facing a 'nightmare' as computer problems hit national tests (Daily Mail)
Exam marking 'cannot be perfect' (BBC News Online)
Warnings of problems hitting Sats (BBC News Online)
Markers quit over 'fiasco' (TES)
Sats verdict (TES)
Ofqual to calm standards row (TES not online)

Times, Independent, TES, BBC News Online, Daily Telegraph

The final batch of research from the Primary Review, based at Cambridge University, has found that the potential benefits of learning in small groups are often lost because children do not know how to work together. The Daily Telegraph reports on the review's findings that lessons with more than 25 pupils fuel bad behaviour and put excess strains on teachers.

The Primary Review interim reports (Primary Review)
Sets in primary classes can blight a child's school life (Times)
Setting harms education of some young children, report warns (Independent)
Streaming and setting do not affect results (TES)
No 'clear advantage to setting' (BBC News Online)
Teachers 'undermined by classes of over 25' (Daily Telegraph)

THE, Times

This week's Times Higher Education (THE) reports on new research by the University of Sunderland and the University of Cambridge, which followed 27 working-class students over two years at a range of English universities and colleges and found that they were hard working, resilient and committed. The Times reports on a project based at King's College London, which has shown that doctors do not need top marks at A-level to succeed. The scheme aims to attract bright students from state schools in inner London who have A-level results that are far too poor to gain entry to medical school to show that, with the right help, they can succeed.

Working-class students have the right stuff to succeed (THE)
You don't need perfect exam grades to be a good doctor (Times)

Independent

A study by the charity Xtraordinary People suggests that the government's delay in providing specialist educational support to children with dyslexia is costing the UK £1.8billion a year. The charity has called for specialist training for one teacher in every school in England, and for dyslexia awareness training to be made mandatory for all other teachers.

Delay in helping dyslexic pupils 'costs £1.8bn a year' (Independent)

Daily Mail

Figures obtained by Nursery World magazine show the number of childminders registered with Ofsted is falling. The magazine has cited the new Early Years Foundations Stage (EYFS) curriculum for driving childminders out of the profession.

Childminders 'forced out by toddler curriculum' (Daily Mail)

Daily Mail

Comment piece in the Daily Mail following yesterday's reports that a university lecturer has been reprimanded for breaching data protection rules for discussing a student's progress with the student's mother.

Our children's welfare and what my niece's flute exam taught me about this utterly foolish secrecy law (Daily Mail)

Scotsman

Pupils in Scotland have been warned that they could have their exam papers torn up if they take their mobile phones into exam halls.

‘No excuses' warning over mobiles in exam hall (Scotsman)

Independent, Times, Times2

David Cameron's revelation that his favourite song is 'Eton Rifles' by The Jam has prompted a furious response from the band's former frontman, Paul Weller. A feature in the Independent attempts to prove that politics and pop do not mix.

Pop goes the politician (Independent)
How daily dose of the Bee Gees gives Gordon Brown a secret boost (Times)
Oxford Tories: It takes balls (Times2)